NIU alum named NCIS director

February 3, 2014

NCIS is in charge of investigating and defeating terrorist, foreign intelligence and criminal threats to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

Traver is responsible for developing and expanding strong partnerships with law enforcement organizations, security services and intelligence agencies worldwide, as well as providing NCIS support to the Navy and Marine Corps.

He has been dedicated to the U.S. Navy and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) since graduating from NIU. In 1985, he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in sociology/criminal justice.

After college, Traver joined the Navy and graduated third in his class from Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I. He also graduated with honors from Surface Warfare Officer School in Coronado, Calif., and served as the gunnery officer aboard the USS Benjamin Stoddert in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

A 26-year career ATF veteran, he began as a special agent in 1987 in Chicago and investigated violent gang-related crime and violations of federal firearms, narcotics and explosives laws. He was also a training officer and fully deputized member of an Illinois State Police narcotics task force.

As the special agent of the Chicago field division of AFT, Traver was responsible for the entire state of Illinois from 2004 to 2012. Under his administration, the Chicago office successfully disrupted and dismantled some of the most violent street gang factions and illicit firearms trafficking networks in the history of the Chicago ATF.

His AFT jobs have taken him across the country. Before becoming NCIS director, he served as the special agent in charge of AFT’s Denver field division, which covered Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Utah, a region encompassing more than 500,000 square miles.

He also served as an assistant special agent of the San Francisco field division and the New Orleans field division, the resident agent of the Camden, N.J., field office, and group supervisor in the Philadelphia field division.

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